


Project Umbra

by CasualShadowJR



Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Power Rangers, Super Sentai Series, Tokusatsu
Genre: Gen, Inspired by..., Kamen Rider - Freeform, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Power Rangers - Freeform, Super Sentai, Tokusatsu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-07-29 16:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16268438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasualShadowJR/pseuds/CasualShadowJR
Summary: Scientists have discovered an alternate universe filled with a form of energy that could transform the world. But with that discovery comes the discovery of a feral extraterrestrial race called the Vorani. One organization stands between them and humanity: EDICT. And one hero will use their own energy against them to defend the world: the hero born from the results of Project Umbra.





	1. From the Void

**Author's Note:**

> This may be an original work, but it has deep inspiration in Japanese tokusatsu like Super Sentai (and its American off-shoot Power Rangers), Kamen Rider, and Metal Heroes. This is not intended to parody the genre or any particular series; if you want affectionate parody, play Chroma Squad. (Seriously, it's a great game.) There may be references or allusions to common tropes or figures in the genre, including deconstruction and reconstruction. Otherwise, this is meant to be taken on its own merits. Also, I appreciate any critique you can give me, as I am trying to build this work up to a potentially professional level of quality.

This was a day Ellen Jansen had been waiting for several years. After all the experiments she'd overseen, finally, it was paying off. All her hard work had led to this moment: the Chaos Generator was finally ready to be activated.

Over the last five years, she had been studying a new form of energy that had been discovered in the Large Hadron Collider, a swirling, erratic form of energy that had affectionately been dubbed chaos energy because of its behavior. It was extraordinarily powerful and, oddly, self-sustaining, and by all accounts, it seemed to have leaked into our reality from an alternate universe, which made its discovery even more exciting. But it was its potential to revolutionize energy consumption in the world that physicists like her focused on, and as soon as the data started flowing, she and others had begun experiments on it.

In Ellen's case, she'd collaborated with scientists from Morton-Hydel technology to try and build a generator that could run on the tiny amount of chaos energy captured by CERN. And of all the scientists working on the problem, she'd seemingly had the most success figuring out the mathematics and the logistics. At least, in theory; now was the time to put it into practice.

The tall woman, dressed in her lab attire and clutching a tablet computer, entered the control room overlooking the Chaos Generator, which had been retrofitted from a nuclear reactor. She'd surmised that its multiple safety features were absolutely critical to harnessing chaos energy immediately and safely. They'd had to adjust the readout gauges to account for the possible increased output, but most of the tweaks were minor and predicated around adjusting for having a small amount of harnessed fuel as opposed to the weighty fuel rods normally used. It'd taken a long time, but she liked what she saw so far. She hoped internally that it matched their expectations.

“Dr. Jansen!” A short Asian man in a lab coat entered the room. “Sorry, I just couldn't stay away. I had to watch the initialization.”

Ellen smiled widely. “I'd actually hoped you join us, Dr. Sakamoto,” she replied to the man. “I'd already planned to send the results off to your engineering department. This just saves time.”

Dr. Sakamoto nodded. “It's exciting for us, too. We're already wondering what kind of things we'll be able to create using chaos energy.”

“Well, you won't have to wait too long. As soon as Officer Carter's here, we'll be able to start.” Ellen nodded toward the generator in the next room, seemingly worried. “If something goes wrong, I want his security team on standby.”

Dr. Sakamoto laughed. “Sometimes, Ellen, I think you watch too many science-fiction shows,” he playfully chided.

Ellen cracked a smile again at her friend and colleague's joke. “I know, Kenji, I know. But we're dealing with unprecedented technology here. As crazy as it seems, I want to be prepared for everything.”

Just as she finished her sentence, a tall, muscular man walked in, shutting the door behind her. “Security team is standing by, Dr. Jansen. Though really, I also think you worry too much.”

Ellen simply shrugged offhandedly “Better safe than sorry, Officer Carter.” She walked up to one of the control room crew and laid one hand on his chair. “All right, everyone, let's fire it up. George, begin initialization.”

“Yes, Doctor.” The crewman turned a single knob and pressed a green button. “Stage 1, beginning. Control rods lowering.” The control rods submerged into the heavy water, locking into place. “Stage 1, complete.”

Ellen pointed to another crew member, this time a woman. “Jessi! Stage 2.”

“Stage 2 beginning, Doctor!” Jessi slowly moved a lever and turned another knob. “Releasing Chaos fuel.” She turned back to face her leader. “All green, Doctor. Stage 2 complete.”

“Excellent!” Ellen excitedly exclaimed. She pulled a security key from around her neck and put it down in a lock next to George. “Energizing in 3...2...1...” She turned the key, and with a whine, the generator came to life, surging with power from the Chaos reaction. “Hans, readings?”

A man sitting next to Jessi reported back, “A little hot, but still green. It appears to be working fine, Doctor.” He scanned his screen again. “...Wait...energy readings yellow...they're stable, but they're dangerously close to acceptable limits.”

This news dampened Ellen's enthusiasm as she looked in Hans' direction. “We may to shut down and re-calibrate---”

“Ellen! Look!” Kenji pointed out the window. As Ellen directed her attention to where Kenji was pointing, she noticed a swirling ball of what appeared to be purplish-black electrical energy spinning in the reactor room in front of the generator.

“That's...not good,” she deliberately understated. “Emergency shutdown!” She turned her key and removed it, placing it back around her neck. “George, Jessi, Hans, take it offline!”

The control members furiously tapped keys and pulled switches, but the crackling surge continued. “No good, Doctor!” Jessi cried, worried. “Generator still active! Energy levels on the low side of red!”

“Shoot...” Ellen set her tablet down and started typing on the console, trying to aid her assistants in getting the generator under control. “Maybe if we try this...” She typed a sequence of three buttons before turning one last knob, and a whine indicated a successful shutdown. “Jessi, Hans, readings!”

Hans replied, “Energy levels dropping back into the green. ...The generator's stabilizing. It's not shut down, but at least it's stable.”

Jessi followed, “But I'm still getting red readings on that energy surge, and--” She had turned to look at it while she was speaking. “Oh my God...Doctor...”

Ellen looked up to see the energy ball had expanded into an oval disc about big enough to swallow several humans at once. “What the....”

Just as she trailed off, out from the disc stepped four unusual creatures. They were black and gold, resembling humanoid animals without mouths. Their hands had sharp claws. Their eyes were glowing and dark purple. And their behavior was erratic, looking around as if they had no idea where they were.”

Ellen, never turning away in her shock, pointed back in the direction of Officer Carter. “Jack...”

“Way ahead of you, Ellen.” The man placed a hand on his earpiece. “Security team, lock, and load. Infiltrate the reactor room and contain the creatures. Move out!”

Into the reactor room burst six well-armed security officers, dressed in SWAT-style gear and carrying assault rifles. The one in front barked orders and gave hand signals, indicating his teammates should spread out. They kept their guns trained on the creatures, watching carefully, ready to fire if one of them made a move.

Not too much longer, one of the creatures leaped forward and gave one officer a sharp back-hand, sending him flying into the wall. One other officer ran back to check on his comrade, while the remaining four opened fire. Unfortunately, the bullets seemed to have no effect; they ricocheted off of the back wall and dropped in vain. Meanwhile, the monsters, seemingly in recognizance of their apparent invulnerability, pressed the attack.

“Wonderful. Bullets don't work on them.” Jack sounded worried. “And that was my best squad of men, Doctor.”

Ellen closed her eyes, trying to avoid seeing the brutal beating the security officers were taking below. “Jack, you know there _is_ another option. Do you still have that prototype plasma pistol? The one that I keep begging you to equip your best officer with?”

Jack looked puzzled. “Yes. I keep it on me. I mean, your exact words 'the officer who's the best shot', and that happens to be me.”

Ellen opened her eyes and simply gave Jack a glare that essentially said, “Well?”

“...I get it.” He pulled out the plasma pistol and switched it on with a sharp high-pitched whine. “I'm going down there.” Quickly, Jack left the control room and ran down the stairs into the reactor room. By that time, all but one of his men had been knocked down, and even that one had been scratched in the face and was bleeding. The sight angered Jack, and he instantly opened fire on the nearest alien.

Green bolts of burning plasma impacted against the creature, knocking it off its feet, motionless. The three remaining took notice, but well-placed shots took down two of them before they ever reached Jack. Upon sight of its fellows being shot down, the last remaining stopped in place and regarded Jack with curiosity. Jack simply scowled and aimed the pistol at it. This was enough to send the final monster running for its life, though it was pushed through the apparent portal with a shot to the general area of its buttocks. Unexpectedly, as the alien disappeared from view, the portal itself shrunk and blinked out of existence. The only evidence of it being there was the scorched extra-terrestrial assailants lying on the ground.

As Jack went to check on the status of his men, Ellen grunted in frustration. All these years, all that work...and what came of it? One dead security team and an unexpected invasion.

“Doctor...Ellen...the generator is still working at 100% efficiency--”  
“Great. Wonderful. Fantastic.” Sarcasm was dripping from her voice. “Thank you for missing the obvious, Hans. Don't you think we have bigger things to worry about, like where those creatures came from? And why the generator's activation brought them here? And why, for the love of God, they're immune to kinetic weaponry but not energy weapons?”

Hans sat there in dumbfounded silence for a moment. Eventually, he gained the courage to speak. “You're right. I'm sorry, Doctor.”

“That being said, the energy readings we recorded today _will_ be important in answering those questions.” Ellen picked her tablet back up and walked over to Kenji while tapping on the device. “Kenji, I've sent them to you. And while you're working on that, see if you can't fabricate more of those plasma pistols, just in case, would you?”

Kenji nodded sadly. “I can't say I disagree with that idea, given what just happened. I'll get on it.” He walked out in silence.

Ellen walked back over to the window and activated the comm system to the reactor room. “Jack, as soon as you can, get those creatures into containment for me. I want autopsies run on them. I want to know what those things are. Oh, and also, I'm having Kenji build more plasma pistols for you.”

Jack went over to the comm station to reply, “If you hadn't asked him, I would have for sure. Thank you.”

Ellen nodded down to him, then turned away and walked over to a chair to sit down. “Ugh...this is not what I expected at all to happen today. But if something else like this happens, we've got to be ready.” She suddenly stood up. “Hans, Jessi, George, I'm going to my office. Don't let anyone bother me unless it's critically important. I'm going to work on something, and I don't want to be disturbed.”

Jessi spoke up. “Okay, Doctor, but...what are you going to be working on?”

“Something to help us better deal with those things in case they return. I'll figure out exactly what eventually.” With that, Ellen left for her office without another word.

That night, she began crunching the data from the generator initialization and got an idea. Taking out a piece of paper, she began working on equations and drawing up concept sketches. Inspiration took a hold of her as she worked tirelessly until at last, she had worked up the concepts for her idea.

Before she left her office for the night, she packed all the drawings and equations into a manila envelope and set it in her outbox to be taken to Kenji.

Five years later, in a nondescript but busy warehouse, Ellen stood in front of a computer screen as an alarm siren echoed throughout the building. Jack walked up to her. “What's going on, Ellen?” He asked.

Ellen pointed to the screen. “These readings. Five of them have appeared through the rift, Jack. Location: Thorsson Park. And at this time on this day, our subject is likely to be there.” She turned to look at her long-time colleague. “We are exceptionally lucky this morning.”

Jack scoffed. “Right. Lucky. More aliens, and the subject for this project of yours? My guys have been handling this thing for five years. Why now?”

“Because there may be a time when your guys and your weapons aren't enough, Jack.” She turned around and picked up a blazer, putting it on over her dark red pantsuit. She patted her hip, making sure that her sidearm was there just in case. “But we don't have time to debate that now. If nothing else, we've got an event to neutralize.” She turned to Jessi, sitting at the computer. “Jessi, call the local police. Let them know we're dealing with a Code V.” She turned back to Jack. “Let's go. Who knows? Today might be the day we finally get to complete Project Umbra.”


	2. One Surprise After Another

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex Di Ombra's morning run gets him into more trouble than he could've anticipated.

Dawn had just begun to break over Argent Falls. This was Alex Di Ombra's favorite time of day. He loved watching the sun come up as he jogged through his local park's trail. The streets were always quiet, as most of his neighborhood was still asleep, enjoying the respite granted by the Saturday morning. But for Alex, this was his time to get up early, get out, and get in some exercise, especially since he didn't really get too much anymore.

 

He'd gotten into the habit of running when he was a teenager taking karate classes. The only thing he'd like more than running as a warm-up was practicing sword and staff katas, but he never really had the space to do that in his apartment. Also, kiais at 6 am would disturb his neighbors. So instead, he focused on keeping his body in shape by running the mile-long track, usually no more than 3 times, at least once a week. And the park rewarded his dedication with a consistently stunning view as the sun rose, its rays sparkling on the twin fishing ponds.

 

But this morning, as Alex came around the downhill turn on his first lap, he noticed something was off. There was a band of five people dressed in black moving out of the trees from the left. Alex paused, considering how unusual this was. Normally, there would be maybe one other person out here on the track, and they, like him, would be wearing light-colored running clothes so as to be easily visible. These folks up ahead were as shadows, moving nearly silently. Curiosity got the better of him, and he ran over to them to find out what was going on.

 

“Excuse me!” Alex called out in his rather baritone voice. “I don't know what you're doing here, but don't you think it's a little early for trick-or-treating. Like, oh...several months?” One of the figures swung around and snarled at him like an animal, and it was then that Alex clearly saw that these were either really dedicated cosplayers, or they simply were not human. Their faces were very much like wild beasts, all black with traces of gold, shimmering purple eyes, and sharp claws on their hands. “...Okay...I didn't know they were shooting a horror movie here today---” He was unable to finish his sentence, as the creature who'd turned his attention to him leaped forward to attack.

 

His reflexes sharp thanks to years of martial arts, Alex reacted quickly, narrowly dodging the needle-like talons being thrust at him. In a single motion, he grabbed its arm, stepped between its legs, and threw the assailant over his shoulder. Before he could knock it out, though, the other four surrounded him with primal fury. He had little time to think before yet another one pounced upon him, knocking him to the ground. Alex pushed it away with his legs, then rolled to the side as another tried to impale him. That monster crashed hard to the ground, and another was knocked back as Alex sprang to his feet.

 

“Okay, the hell's going on here?” Alex wondered aloud, barely getting out his entire sentence before being set upon by two creatures at once. He barely managed to dodge, one of the foes' claws scratching his face and drawing blood. “Oh, you little---” He was cut off when one of the monsters kicked him in the stomach, knocking him a good ten feet back. “The hell?” His attacker closed the distance in a hurry and tried to stomp him into the ground, but Alex managed to catch his foot. “I don't think so, buddy!” Alex gave its ankle a twist, sending it spinning to the ground and howling in pain. He rolled back to his feet just past another approaching enemy, then delivered a sharp kick to the back of its knee, making it drop to the asphalt. He then jumped up and laid a fierce stomp kick on one who'd been running right toward him, bringing it down to the ground hard.

 

Only one remained, and looking at its fallen foes, it was furious with anger at this human. It jumped toward Alex, who simply shifted back and shuffled forward to deliver a vicious side-kick to its face with his right leg. It crumpled into a heap on the ground in front of him, and Alex, out of breath from the first legitimate fight of his life, went down to one knee to examine it.

 

 _This has got to be some kind of Scooby Doo-type thing,_ Alex thought. _A bunch of hoodlums trying to break into the neighborhood, scaring people with monster costumes, like what's been going on around Adams Street lately. If this is some kind of gang, I think I got damned lucky to successfully fight them off. I need to call the police. After I unmask these guys anyway._

 

Alex searched under the chin of his fallen opponent for any sign of a mask or facial appliance. To his surprise, he found nothing. He tugged on its face in several spots but to no avail. Slowly, like the sun rising behind him, the realization dawned on him. These weren't hoodlums or gang members. These things were actually nonhuman monsters. “What the hell--”

 

Behind him came a snarling. Alex turned around quickly to see that one of the creatures, the one he'd failed to knock out earlier, and gotten up and was about to strike him. Just as quickly, a loud electronic whine pierced the morning air, followed by the sound of a miniature explosion, the sizzle of burning flesh, and finally, the thud of the monster hitting the ground. As it fell, it revealed the source of its demise: a tall woman in a dark red pantsuit, kneeling down and pointing a smoking and a rather futuristic-looking pistol in its direction. Alex remained frozen in place in fear as she stood, blew smoke away from its barrel, and holstered the strange weapon.

 

“Excellent shot, Ellen,” said the large man who walked around from behind a car. “I see you've been practicing in your spare time.”

 

“Of course I have,” she replied with an air of familiarity. “Can't let you and Operations have all the fun, can I? Besides...I like to get a little hands-on with my work.”

 

The large man chuckled. “Apparently.” He signaled to his people, who had been stepping out of multiple other vehicles. “Okay, Alpha Squad, clean up this mess and process the Vorani for disposal. Curtis, phone the police, give them Code C.” He turned back to Ellen. “And as for you...” He motioned to Alex, who was still breathless, tired, and in shock. “He's your responsibility. Do what you gotta do.”

 

Ellen went over to Alex and helped him up. “Hello, Alex Di Ombra. I'm Agent Ellen Jansen, Ph.D. We've got a lot to talk about, so if you'll follow me to the car---”

 

“Like hell!” Alex shook her off. “The hell were those things? The hell was _that_ thing!” He motioned to her sidearm. “The hell are you doing here? The hell were _they_ doing here? And why, for the love of God, do you know my name?”

 

Ellen remained calm. “I know this is all a shock to you. I promise you, we'll explain everything and answer all your questions, but I need you to come with me.”

 

Alex had a skeptical look on his face, but at the moment, he didn't see any other choice. He had to find out what was going on, and it seemed like this doctor or agent or something was the only one who had any answers. “...Okay, fine, whatever. Take me to your leader or some crap like that, but before we do that, at least let me do one thing.”

 

Ellen looked at him inquisitively. “What, exactly?”

 

“Well, _two_ things, actually.” He briefly looked downward in resignation before looking back at Ellen. “First, I really need a shower and to change my clothes. I'm not going anywhere while I'm still in my sweaty workout clothes.”

 

“Not a problem. We can take you by your apartment so you can shower and change. And the other thing is...?”

 

Alex chuckled nervously. “Can we stop by someplace so I can get a breakfast sandwich or something? Nearly getting killed tends to make a guy hungry, and I haven't had breakfast yet.”

 

Ellen laughed briefly, then composed herself before replying. “Yes, I'm pretty sure we can arrange that, too.” She looked over at the big man, who was just finishing giving orders to his men. “Jack? Would you mind giving Alex a ride?”

 

“I'm an Operations officer, Ellen, not a taxi service!” He gruffly replied, even while knowing he couldn't really refuse. “All right, come on, Alex, into the limo over here.” He led the timorous Alex to the limousine, getting in behind him as his agents finished cleaning up all traces of the incursion.

 

Ellen got into her own car, and as the fleet drove off, Alex breathed a deep sigh as he wiped the blood off of his face. This wasn't the morning he expected already. He hoped it wouldn't get any weirder, but somewhere, deep down inside, he knew that all this was just the beginning.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now begins the story properly. Let me know what you think about the story so far, and specifically about the protagonist, Alex.
> 
> Also, minor spoilers? The next chapter is going to be exposition-heavy. When writing that chapter, I just couldn't get around it.


End file.
